On average, I read about 50 books a year. If I were to live another 42 years, the age I am now, it would mean that I would still have the chance to read another 2100 books. The perspective of a limited number of books I could read instantly gives me anxiety 🙂 Hence the dilemma of whether to give a chance to a book I started reading, which after the first few pages does not arouse my imagination or abandon it at the expense of another book, hopefully better.

Of all the books I have ever read, the most beautiful one is The Little Prince. I love this book, I think it’s like a  guide to lead your life. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s fable is a story about an aviator, downed in the desert where he meets a young prince who fell to Earth from a tiny little asteroid where he lived alone with a single rose. The rose has made him so miserable that, in torment, he has taken advantage of a flock of birds to convey him to other planets. The Little Prince is a simple and charming story, written in simple language, about human values, responsibility and relationships between people, about the spirit of adventure, childhood, loneliness and friendship. 

1. The Little Prince is the second most translated book in the world, after the Bible. One of the most widespread books in the world, it has been translated into three hundred and sixty-one languages, including Braille, selling nearly two million copies annually, with a total sales of over 200 million copies worldwide and it has become one of the best-selling books ever published. Although published in the United States in both English and French, in his native country, France, the book was published only a year after Saint-Exupéry’s disappearance.
2. Before World War II, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was an aviator and aristocratic writer who flew the mail routes in Africa and South America and even worked as a test pilot. The opening of the book is inspired by the author’s own experience, who in 1935, during an attempt to set the record for the fastest journey between Paris and Saigon, crashed his plane in the desert, 125 miles outside Cairo, in the Libyan desert. Saint-Exupéry wrote what he knew.
3. All the illustrations in The Little Prince, a book published in 1943, are painted in watercolor by Saint-Exupéry himself.
4. Saint-Exupéry’s death was as mysterious and fascinating as his life. During a mission in 1944, his plane disappeared and was never seen again. Whether he was shot down by an enemy or perhaps crashed in a suicide maneuver remains a mystery. The author’s body was never recovered and it was not until 1998 that a clue was found in the form of his silver identity bracelet, discovered by a fisherman off the coast of Marseilles in the Mediterranean. The wreckage of his plane was found there by a diver in 2000.
5. Most likely, the Prince’s rose was inspired by Saint-Exupéry’s wife, Consuelo. Antoine and Consuelo had a long-distance relationship for most of their lives, but she always remained his muse. Just as Saint-Exupéry kept Consuelo close to his heart, the Prince take care of his rose by watering and protecting it. Although the Prince meets other roses (in the case of Saint-Exupéry, other women) on his journey, the fox reminds him that his rose is unique to him, because “you become forever responsible for what you have tamed.” This theory is further supported by the title of Consuelo’s autobiography, The Story of the Rose.

You can read more about this book on thelittleprince.com and you can download it for free as pdf here.

The most beautiful quotes from The Little Prince:

• „Here is my secret. It’s quite simple: One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”
• “Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.”
• „Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more.”
• „If you want to build a ship, don’t start by sending people for wood, nails, tools, string and other materials. Teach them first to long for the distant, endless sea.”
• „Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”
• „People have forgotten this truth,” the fox said. “But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose.”
• „It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom.”
• „The fox said: For me, you’re only a little boy just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need for you. And you have no need for me, either. For you, I’m only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, we’ll need each other. You’ll be the only boy in the world for me. I’ll be the only fox in the world for you…”
• „Grown-ups love figures… When you tell them you’ve made a new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you “What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies? ” Instead they demand “How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make? ” Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.”
• „Man discovers himself when he measures himself against the obstacle.”
• „Life only makes sense if you change it a little.”